0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is the story of the invasions of the British Isles.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Whoa!
0:00:10 > 0:00:13It's the story of the enemies we feared,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17it's the story of the fear of invasion itself,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and of the idea that we Britons are somehow unique.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27There have been battles for Britain for millennia,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30from weapons like these Hurricanes
0:00:30 > 0:00:32to sticks and stone axes.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Invasions come in many forms -
0:00:36 > 0:00:37mass migration,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40immigrants bringing ideas and religions,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43all have shaped Britain and made it what it is -
0:00:43 > 0:00:49yet we love to believe in the idea of Britain as an island fortress.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Shakespeare wrote of this royal throne of kings,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56this scepter'd isle.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00In Royal Britannia, we've never been defeated.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Churchill called us the island race.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08It's a story we all tell ourselves,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12but we all descend from people who came here from elsewhere,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15for one reason or another.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Since the 1600s, there have been bloody battles,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23invasions repelled on the beaches,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and even one planned invasion by balloon.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30In this, my final exploration of invasions,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36I'm going to be exploring the theme of fact and fear around invaders.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39It's been a feature of our isles for millennia,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42but more than ever in the last few centuries.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55I'm interested in how we view invasion,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58what we fear,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and how we have depicted it throughout our history.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Invasions aren't always hostile or damaging.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08They can be influxes of people or ideas,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11or religions that change the way we are.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Invasions can also give us romantic heroes,
0:02:17 > 0:02:22like the leader of a planned invasion of England in 1745.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25His name was Bonnie Prince Charlie.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28His daring exploits were to fuel generations
0:02:28 > 0:02:31of myths and romantic stories.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Are you from the continent?
0:02:33 > 0:02:36- Yes, from the continent. - A citizen of Edinburgh, maybe?
0:02:36 > 0:02:38I meant the continent of Europe.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I meant the continent of Scotland.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44- Where's your country?- I'm looking at it for the first time.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Like this 1948 film starring a handsome six-foot David Niven.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51My lord, would you read my commission
0:02:51 > 0:02:52while we set up the standard?
0:02:57 > 0:03:02But the reality was that Bonnie Prince Charlie was only 5'4".
0:03:02 > 0:03:04He was a half Scots Italian,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08fighting to restore his Catholic Stuart family back to the throne.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12With some French help,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in the Highlands in the summer of 1745.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21He quickly raised an army of loyal clansmen,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24with the intention of invading England.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29These invading forces headed south,
0:03:29 > 0:03:31gathering support as they went.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37It appeared they couldn't put a foot wrong.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Carlisle,
0:03:38 > 0:03:39Lancaster,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Manchester -
0:03:41 > 0:03:44all these cities fell to the Jacobites in quick succession.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50As Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army marched south towards London,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52invasion fever gripped Britain.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58The closer the kilt-clad Jacobites got to the capital,
0:03:58 > 0:03:59the more nervous was the reaction.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03There was a run on the banks,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07shutters were drawn and pubs were shut.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12At this crucial moment, in Drury Lane theatres,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15people began to sing a rallying cry
0:04:15 > 0:04:19in the face of the Catholic invaders, God Save The King.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26This is the exact moment when the British National anthem began.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33By December 1745,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Bonnie Prince Charlie's band of Jacobites
0:04:35 > 0:04:37had got as far south as Derby.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41But then, the invasion stalled.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Surrounded on both sides by the Hanoverians,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49his military council voted to head back to Scotland.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56The government decided this rebel army would have to be crushed.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58The scene was set for a confrontation
0:04:58 > 0:05:01on a desolate field near Inverness.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10On the morning of the 16th of April 1746,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12the Battle of Culloden began.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17But this wasn't Scotland versus England.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20More Scots fought against Bonnie Prince Charlie
0:05:20 > 0:05:22on the government's side than for him.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26This was Protestant lowlander versus Catholic highlander,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29but it was also highlander versus highlander,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32who fought to settle ancient tribal feuds.
0:05:32 > 0:05:33Fire!
0:05:37 > 0:05:41This was clan, civil and religious war,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43a conflict dating back to
0:05:43 > 0:05:47Henry VIII's split from Rome and his title - defender of the faith.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51The battle was bloody and brutal.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55The action was depicted with shocking realism
0:05:55 > 0:06:00in this ground-breaking 1964 BBC drama documentary.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09On barren Culloden moor,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11the formidable fighting qualities of the Highlanders
0:06:11 > 0:06:14were negated by an incompetent battle plan,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18which left them exposed to superior government artillery.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23The Jacobites didn't stand a chance.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Against the superior firepower of government guns,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32over 1,200 of them were left slaughtered in the heather.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35The government only lost around 50 men.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47The Battle of Culloden has entered into the collective consciousness.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Defeated and dejected,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00the would-be Charles the Third fled across the Highlands,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and over the sea to Skye, disguised as a woman.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06What are you doing out?
0:07:06 > 0:07:11David Niven's film gives us the romantic legend in its full glory.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Nice cloak!
0:07:15 > 0:07:16But the reality was,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19when Bonnie Prince Charlie made it back to Italy,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21he resumed an unfulfilling life in exile.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Bonnie Prince Charlie was a broken man.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Invited by the French to figurehead an invasion in 1759,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37he turned up to a secret meeting in Paris late and drunk.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39He was dropped, as a liability.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43The Bonnie Prince saw out the rest of his days
0:07:43 > 0:07:46getting fatter and drunker on the Continent.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Invasions don't have to be about battles and bombs,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00and landings on our coast,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04they can be about waves of people, waves of ideas,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07that fundamentally change who we are.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14For hundreds of years, France was England's greatest foe.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18But this relationship with our Gallic cousins
0:08:18 > 0:08:21has always been ambivalent.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27While skirmishing and repelling invasion,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31the English had also been welcoming French citizens
0:08:31 > 0:08:33into their towns and cities.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The great British trait for tolerance has meant that,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40throughout our history,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44we've been an attractive destination for outsiders fleeing persecution.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49One French group who suffered repeated persecution
0:08:49 > 0:08:52under the Catholic Bourbon Dynasty
0:08:52 > 0:08:56was a Protestant sect known as the Huguenots.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Up to one million French Huguenots fled to Protestant countries -
0:09:00 > 0:09:03around 50,000 of them came to live in England.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Many were highly skilled artisans
0:09:08 > 0:09:10who brought with them a refined culture.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24The Huguenot invasion created
0:09:24 > 0:09:27fashion like this extraordinary silk dress.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Soon it was said that nothing vends without a Gaelic name.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Even the word vending itself is French.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Many Huguenots settled in the Spitalfields area of east London,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41selling their finery.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43They lived in grand town houses.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47George Foutris, whose family had come to Britain
0:09:47 > 0:09:50from France a generation before,
0:09:50 > 0:09:54listed four reasons why immigrants should come to Britain.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58First, it was a temperate and obliging land.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Second, the law offered some protection to the individual.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Third, it was a land of opportunity.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08And fourth, there was religious sanctuary.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15But, just like today, the reaction to these foreigners was mixed.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Some saw the value of immigration to economy and culture
0:10:19 > 0:10:20and others disagreed.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25A satirist wrote in 1691, "The nation,
0:10:25 > 0:10:31"it is almost quite undone by Frenchmen that do it daily overrun".
0:10:31 > 0:10:35The Huguenots were to have a huge impact
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and on more than just silk dresses.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41They also made clocks.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44A community of Huguenots watchmakers
0:10:44 > 0:10:48established in the Blackfriars area of London and,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51with the various conflicts in Europe,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54the influx of these craftsmen
0:10:54 > 0:10:58contributed hugely to an extraordinary industry.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01And here we had very highly skilled people
0:11:01 > 0:11:03bringing new skills into London and then,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05of course, training local people.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Their contribution to the London clock and watch trade
0:11:10 > 0:11:11is immeasurable.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Do you think they were welcomed in?
0:11:14 > 0:11:16That's a good question.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Were they welcomed in?
0:11:18 > 0:11:20I don't think there was much resistance.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23In the early days of the migrations,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25there was no established clock and watch trade,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27so there was no ill feeling.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28In the 1690s,
0:11:28 > 0:11:34you do see a lot of Huguenots gaining freedom
0:11:34 > 0:11:36of the Worshipful Company of clockmakers, for example,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40so that they have the right to trade within the city limits of London.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46We have Huguenot influence to thank for this beautiful object.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48And it was ground-breaking.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52In order to know your longitude at sea,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56you need to measure the midday sun against a clock.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The Holy Grail of maritime technology was an accurate clock.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04If a ship's clock was just four minutes fast or slow,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09a ship could find itself as much as 70 miles off-course.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10This was achieved in 1755,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14when John Harrison designed a ship's chronometer,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17which lost just five seconds in six weeks,
0:12:17 > 0:12:22and it allowed extraordinary feats of pinpoint navigation,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24such as Cook's expeditions to Australia.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34John Harrison also designed this small timepiece.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Can you just summarise how important this watch was?
0:12:39 > 0:12:42This watch is of tremendous significance
0:12:42 > 0:12:46in terms of the history of navigation and cartography.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50This really opened up the door, made navigating at sea safer,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54and it also enabled mariners to make accurate maps.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56I suppose, when we look at this watch,
0:12:56 > 0:13:00there are some key features that establish it
0:13:00 > 0:13:03as being at the pinnacle of quality watchmaking.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06This watch has a rewind mechanism,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09which operates on this every 7.5 seconds.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12- Wow!- And if you think about Cook's second voyage,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16this rewind mechanism would have activated nearly 13 million times
0:13:16 > 0:13:19during that voyage and did so unerringly.
0:13:19 > 0:13:2113 million?
0:13:21 > 0:13:23- 13 million.- That's absolutely extraordinary.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26It's what genius looks like, isn't it?
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Yes, if you could make genius, it's here in this watch.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Far from being an insular, inward nation,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41we've always been open to cultural influences from all over Europe.
0:13:42 > 0:13:43Here in Tate Britain,
0:13:43 > 0:13:47some of the greatest work from the 18th century was by foreigners.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Philippe Mercier, Huguenot.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Anthony van Dyck, who transformed British portraiture, Flemish.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Jan Siberechts, the founder of British landscape painting,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12from the Netherlands.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18These foreign artists were welcomed into Britain
0:14:18 > 0:14:20for their sophistication
0:14:20 > 0:14:22and the work they produced was highly influential.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28But, while we were celebrating the work of Europeans,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31we were still always fearful that they might invade.
0:14:37 > 0:14:44In 1789, France was turned upside down by a violent revolution.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48The monarchy was abolished in favour of the concepts of liberty,
0:14:48 > 0:14:49fraternity and equality.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58During the early years of the revolution,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02the British may have felt that French invasion threats
0:15:02 > 0:15:03were a thing of the past.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Things could not have been further from the truth.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Within four years, France had declared war on Britain.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18And then, in 1797, a French army did actually land on British soil.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It's a little-known footnote in the history of our invasions,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26involving a middle-aged woman,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28a revolutionary Irish-American commander,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32some extremely incompetent French soldiers and this,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35a pitchfork. You could have your eye out with that.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42As you've probably guessed by now,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45this invasion was more farcical than fatal.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48It took place here, in the town of Fishguard,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51on the south-west coast of Wales.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55The French plan centred on Ireland.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58They wanted to ferment a revolution there and needed some diversionary
0:15:58 > 0:16:00forces to land in England first.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05The original target had been Bristol,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09but strong winds blew the French ships off course to Wales.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12On the 22nd of February,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16they landed in a rocky bay three miles north-west of Fishguard.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22The French force began to make their way inland.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26You might wonder why they chose to land
0:16:26 > 0:16:29on the north Pembrokeshire coast in February.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31It's about as inhospitable as it gets.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34But in one sense, it was a stroke of genius.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37The local Fishguard volunteer force was woefully unprepared and
0:16:37 > 0:16:40undermanned, and their landing caused a panic.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44The French force was sizeable,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47around 1,500 men, who were well-armed.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The Fishguard defence force was pitiful in comparison,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55amounting to just a couple of hundred men.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01The town had just three rounds of ammunition.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Unsurprisingly, the first one that they fired was a blank.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09To petrified locals,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12it must have felt that these French marauders
0:17:12 > 0:17:14could easily take their town.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16The odds looked to be stacked against them.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21Leading the invasion force was not a Frenchman,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25but an Irish-American mercenary, Colonel William Tate.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Now, he suffered two major disadvantages.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30The first was that he didn't speak French
0:17:30 > 0:17:34and the second was that his soldiers left a lot to be desired,
0:17:34 > 0:17:35and I mean a lot.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Almost half the invading force was made up
0:17:39 > 0:17:41of the dregs of the French army.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45There were more ex-convicts and deserters
0:17:45 > 0:17:48than properly trained soldiers.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Not surprisingly, they didn't have much of an attack plan.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57They seemed to be more interested in inebriation than invasion.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Some of these jailbirds got drunk on wine and port
0:17:59 > 0:18:02that a local farmer had recently salvaged from a shipwreck.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Others came in here to the beautiful local church
0:18:07 > 0:18:10of Saint Gwyndaf and began to wreak havoc.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14They destroyed the church records
0:18:14 > 0:18:15and tore apart the Bible,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19presumably to find fuel for a fire to keep warm.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24The locals grew fearful of these French invaders running amok,
0:18:24 > 0:18:30especially the women, who bravely took matters into their own hands.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Legend has it that a 47-year-old spinster, Jemima Nicholas,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36single-handedly arrested 12 Frenchmen
0:18:36 > 0:18:39with nothing more than a pitchfork like this.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50This embarrassing encounter convinced Colonel Tate
0:18:50 > 0:18:52that his invasion was a lost cause.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53Can I have a pint of this, please?
0:18:55 > 0:18:57And, within just one day,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59he decided to negotiate a conditional surrender.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03At 9:00pm on the 23rd of February,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07he sent a two-man French delegation to this building,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09which is now the Royal Oak pub,
0:19:09 > 0:19:10and they outlined their terms
0:19:10 > 0:19:14in a letter they delivered to the head of the Pembroke Yeomanry,
0:19:14 > 0:19:15Lord Cawdor.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Cawdor sent this amazing piece of bluff in response.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26"Sir, the superiority of the force under my command,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29"which is hourly increasing,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32"must prevent my treating upon any terms,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36"short of your surrendering your whole force."
0:19:37 > 0:19:38Wow.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44The French fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47The next day, Welsh soldiers lined up on the beach
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and it also looked as if they were lining up on the cliffs behind me,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54but, in actual fact, they were Welsh women wearing their traditional
0:19:54 > 0:19:55red shawls and black hats,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58and apparently they looked like soldiers to Tate.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Really? Do I look like soldier?
0:20:02 > 0:20:03Or a woman?
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Tate decided to surrender forthwith,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12and by lunchtime he and his ragtag army were all in custody.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The Battle of Fishguard has entered into local folklore.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22It's immortalised in this 13-metre-long tapestry,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25which was produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27This is amazing.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Frances Chivers was one of the stitchers.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32Frances, I'm very excited.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35I've been wanting to see this from the moment I heard about it.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39- Who made it?- 70 local people.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41How long did it take to make?
0:20:41 > 0:20:45From the original idea, four years.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Two years to design and research
0:20:48 > 0:20:51because things like uniform, ships' rigging,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53even the cows in the field, had to be...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58What did they have? They didn't have Friesians, so what did they have?
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And then two years to actually do the stitching.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Now I understand that you worked on this particular bit here.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07I did this part and I did the calf.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10What's this scene telling us?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12People were fed up because the French came along,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16invaded the farmhouses and took poultry,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20and you can see here they are trying to take the calf to feed themselves,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23and they were defending their property.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I'm not sure that it was a political gesture.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29It was more life and death, really, for food.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31- And they fought back. - Well, they were poor,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34they couldn't afford to lose their stuff.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36There's a very interesting parallel between
0:21:36 > 0:21:38the women nowadays stitching this
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and the role of the women in the past, during the event.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45What was it about this part of Wales that led to women having such an
0:21:45 > 0:21:50- important role?- I think it was a very matriarchal society, actually.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54It was a fishing community, and people went further afield too,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58so I think very often the men were away, the women had to run it.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04The tapestry shows the Battle of Fishguard,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07in all its farcical detail, and I love it.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I think this is the best example of a community
0:22:10 > 0:22:14engaging with history that I have ever seen.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19It's creative, it's thoughtful, it's entertaining, it's skilful.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21It really is wonderful,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and you should all come to Fishguard to see it.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28We now know that the Battle of Fishguard
0:22:28 > 0:22:31was the last ever invasion of foreign troops
0:22:31 > 0:22:33on the British mainland,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35but people at the time had no idea
0:22:35 > 0:22:38that this would be our last land battle
0:22:38 > 0:22:40with post-Revolutionary France.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46When Napoleon took over as Emperor in 1804,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49our levels of invasion paranoia reached a peak.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53He soon amassed an army near the Channel.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00The strategic issue was the same as it always had been -
0:23:00 > 0:23:02how to cross the English Channel.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07But there was one option that would bypass the sea
0:23:07 > 0:23:09and the Royal Navy altogether.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Rumours spread in Britain that the next French invasion
0:23:15 > 0:23:18would be achieved by a very new and strange technology.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22A fleet of balloons.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29- Can I get in?- You can. Hop in.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38This is a new experience for me.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40I've never been in a balloon before.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47I've been sort of struck dumb by just how beautiful this is.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51It's completely silent.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54There is a bit of ticking from up here,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57but, because you're going with the wind, there's no wind noise.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05What's really interesting is that, as soon as you're airborne,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07covering distance seems completely plausible.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11The French certainly seemed to think so.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13In 1799,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16the French army formed a special Balloon Corps
0:24:16 > 0:24:21to take advantage of new technology which had been around since 1783.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23And with a capable and cunning enemy,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25armed with the latest technology,
0:24:25 > 0:24:30it sent the British into paroxysms of acute invasion mania.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35The thought of hundreds of French soldiers
0:24:35 > 0:24:38heading across the Channel in sinister balloons
0:24:38 > 0:24:41must have been terrifying for the southern English.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47In contemporary cartoons, they are huge and powerful,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50but was invasion by balloon actually possible?
0:24:51 > 0:24:53It's definitely possible, but it's unlikely.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56You need the right sort of wind direction
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and the right sort of wind speed.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00If it's too fast, you won't be able to take off.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The balloon can only carry a certain amount of weight,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06so you might struggle to get whatever ammunition, animals,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09whatever you need to take across to
0:25:09 > 0:25:11- further your campaign. - How many do you reckon
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Napoleon would have got in his invasion balloons?
0:25:15 > 0:25:17It's normally done by weight, so maybe 24 people,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19for a really big balloon,
0:25:19 > 0:25:20but that's by modern-day standards.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22The balloons back then were taking two, three,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24maybe four people at the most.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Yeah, and it would've be terrifying, wouldn't it?
0:25:26 > 0:25:28There's so many unknowns.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33The first people that went across the Channel did it in 1785 -
0:25:33 > 0:25:36only 18 months after the very first balloon flight.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39They ended up taking off their clothes to reduce the weight,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41so they could make it over on to dry land on the other side.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Right, so you arrive naked?
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Just in their boxers, yes, pretty much, yes!
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Ironically, this planned balloon invasion
0:25:51 > 0:25:54was inadvertently funded from Britain.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Napoleon had raised 15 million francs for his invasion chest
0:25:57 > 0:25:59by selling Louisiana to the Americans,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04and the Americans had raised the money by borrowing it from Barings,
0:26:04 > 0:26:05a British bank.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Even though we were obliquely funding
0:26:09 > 0:26:13Napoleon's ambitious invasion plan, it never actually came to fruition.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Later, historians viewed the plan as a French fantasy
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and I tend to agree.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Getting ready to land, it's the sketchiest
0:26:25 > 0:26:27bit of this entire operation.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29We've got some livestock below us.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32We're up high now, going over the top of those,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and then we've got some land in front of us, that's known to us,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37that we're going to descend down and hopefully land on.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42My version of a landing plan is that there is a high-speed railway line
0:26:42 > 0:26:45down here next to a motorway on our left.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49On our right is the sea, and between that and that are loads of houses.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And there's a very small green field we're going to try and land in!
0:26:53 > 0:26:55So it's the top field as you come out of woods
0:26:55 > 0:26:58from Cedar Valley Golf Club.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03I have no idea how the French could have possibly made this work.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08Napoleon's invasion plans came down to earth with a bump.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12But in Britain, invasion paranoia remained.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20After abandoning the balloon plan,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Napoleon focused on sea warfare with Britain.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30At the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32the French and Spanish were defeated
0:27:32 > 0:27:35in one of our greatest ever naval victories.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42The hope was that the valiant efforts of Lord Nelson
0:27:42 > 0:27:45had removed the threat of a French invasion for good.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50In 1844,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Trafalgar Square was completed as the monument to the victory
0:27:53 > 0:27:56that secured Britain from sea invasion.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01This isn't jingoism, it's a vast national sigh of relief.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09In 1851, Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12declared himself emperor in a coup d'etat.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14The threat of invasion,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16which had been so real under the old Napoleon,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19had retreated from British consciousness.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23But was this new Napoleon up to the same old tricks?
0:28:26 > 0:28:28There's no evidence of Louis Napoleon
0:28:28 > 0:28:31ever seriously wanting invade Britain,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35but it was still a major preoccupation of the British.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41A series of coastal defences was constructed, at great cost,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44to guard against any future invasion,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48like the ones here in Dover, Kent.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51These are some of the most impressive defensive structures
0:28:51 > 0:28:53ever built in Britain,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57particularly this part, which became known as the Drop Redoubt.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Comprising of ditches, forts and dry moats,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07it was designed to protect against both sea and land attack.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Some thought it was a waste of money and would never be needed.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15The Drop Redoubt drew stinging contempt
0:29:15 > 0:29:17from politician William Cobbett,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20who saw such a waste in all of these bricks,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25which he believed should have been used to build workers' houses.
0:29:25 > 0:29:26He wrote,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30"This is perhaps the only set of fortifications
0:29:30 > 0:29:33"in the world ever famed for mere hiding.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37"There is no appearance of any intention to annoy an enemy.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41"It is a parcel of holes made in a hill
0:29:41 > 0:29:44"to hide Englishmen from Frenchmen."
0:29:47 > 0:29:51On the outside, it's a very imposing structure.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57But I think the most interesting area actually lies below ground,
0:29:57 > 0:30:03where there's a mysterious subterranean spiral stairwell.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Oh!
0:30:06 > 0:30:11That is the architecture of invasion paranoia.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15This is the grand shaft.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18It ascends 140 feet,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21it contains 480 steps,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25and it's not one staircase, but three,
0:30:25 > 0:30:31so it allows three separate military units to ascend or descend
0:30:31 > 0:30:33without getting in each other's way.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38In the absence of an actual invasion,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41this magnificent thing became a parody of military life.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47The Drop Redoubt is yet another example
0:30:47 > 0:30:49of our deep-seated fear of invasion
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and the lengths we've gone to to combat it.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58The greatest contribution the grand shaft made was to the economy of
0:30:58 > 0:31:02Dover, with soldiers descending to spend all of their money
0:31:02 > 0:31:05in the pubs and brothels of Snargate Street.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09They even built cells at the entrance to lock up drunk soldiers.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16These soldiers didn't, in fact, need to be sober or ready for action
0:31:16 > 0:31:21because, by 1871, the French threat of invasion had receded.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26France was defeated on another front in the Franco-Prussian War.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32And ironically, Louis Napoleon fled to tolerant Britain,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36where he sought exile in a little cottage in Chislehurst, in Kent,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39where he lived until he died in 1873.
0:31:42 > 0:31:43And this fortification,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47built to guard against a French invasion that never came,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51became a vast but curiously beautiful white elephant.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Our fear of invasion didn't just cause us
0:31:58 > 0:32:00to build remarkable defensive edifices,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05it also inspired a genre of fiction which explored that paranoia.
0:32:09 > 0:32:14And an expert in this genre is the academic - Christian Melby.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Christian, what is invasion literature?
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Invasion literature is, quite simply,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24literature that presents Britain as invaded by a foreign enemy.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26Why do you think it is interesting?
0:32:26 > 0:32:29It's interesting because it tells a lot about British society,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33and British fears, hopes and ideas
0:32:33 > 0:32:35about the outside world and themselves.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37When did it come about?
0:32:37 > 0:32:43It comes about in 1871, so the birth date of this form of literature.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47It's a guy called Lieutenant Colonel George Tompkyns Chesney.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51He writes a story called the Battle of Dorking.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53It publishes in Blackwood's Magazine and it becomes
0:32:53 > 0:32:56an immediate and quite surprising success.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Is it about people invading Dorking?
0:32:58 > 0:33:01It's about a German army landing in the south of England,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05and marching on London, and the ill-prepared,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08scattered British forces meeting them near Dorking,
0:33:08 > 0:33:09and then gets defeated.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13It's amazing. I've never heard of this literary theme
0:33:13 > 0:33:15of the paranoia of invasion.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18Well, quite a few people might have heard about it
0:33:18 > 0:33:22without even thinking it is an invasion scare genre.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27I mean, a lot of people will have read HG Wells' War of the Worlds and
0:33:27 > 0:33:29Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands,
0:33:29 > 0:33:31which I believe it is still in print,
0:33:31 > 0:33:33which is a very popular adventure story.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35But that is belonging to the genre.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41This 1979 film, based on the 1903 book, Riddle of the Sands,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44is a classic boys' own adventure.
0:33:44 > 0:33:45My God.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49I'm going.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51Oh, no, it has to be me.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53We knew that all the time.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Frankly, your German is not up to this.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59The heroes uncover a German plot to attack Chatham in Kent.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Is it a uniquely British thing, invasion literature?
0:34:19 > 0:34:22It gets adopted by other countries, to certain extents.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24It gets translated into foreign languages,
0:34:24 > 0:34:26but it is a British invention
0:34:26 > 0:34:28and it is in Britain that it is the most popular.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Do you think the fact that, because Britain is an island,
0:34:31 > 0:34:33we're paranoid about invasion?
0:34:33 > 0:34:36I think that's a very good way of putting it.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37Not necessarily paranoid,
0:34:37 > 0:34:42but it's such a powerful way of self-identifying.
0:34:42 > 0:34:43Britain is an island,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45but if it gets invaded,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48all of a sudden the continent comes to us, in a way.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50So, yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why
0:34:50 > 0:34:52this literature is so resonant.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55How does the changing nature of Britain's enemies
0:34:55 > 0:34:58become reflected in invasion literature?
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Throughout the 19th century, it's usually France -
0:35:01 > 0:35:03France in alliance with Russia.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07And then, as the Edwardian period progresses,
0:35:07 > 0:35:11- it's clear that it's Germany that is the big enemy.- Yeah.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15During the first decade of the 20th century,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18storm clouds were gathering on the horizon.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25The next threat we faced played to some of our deepest fears
0:35:25 > 0:35:27and it was, indeed, from Germany.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38The First World War was like nothing that came before it.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43There were horrors on the battlefield,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46but the technology was now there for horrors
0:35:46 > 0:35:48to come from the sky as well.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Some people were so frightened of an aerial attack
0:35:56 > 0:35:59that they built their own shelters,
0:35:59 > 0:36:00like this one in south London.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07Our long-held fear of an aerial invasion
0:36:07 > 0:36:11was finally realised on the 31st of May, 1915...
0:36:13 > 0:36:17..when the first ever Zeppelin air attack took place over London.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22Two years after this,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25we faced an even more significant aerial bombardment.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Our first ever from an actual aeroplane.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34On the 25th of May, 1917,
0:36:34 > 0:36:3723 Gotha bombers headed for London.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Each Gotha carried a 300kg payload
0:36:44 > 0:36:47of these 12.5kg bombs.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Now, it's pretty easy technology.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51You switch it to fire,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53hang it over the other side
0:36:53 > 0:36:55and drop it.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59But the capital was shrouded in mist,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03so the Gotha switched targets to the seaside town of Folkestone.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05In Tontine Street,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08a large queue for potatoes had formed
0:37:08 > 0:37:10outside Stokes Brothers greengrocers,
0:37:10 > 0:37:15when out of the sky fell a bomb from a Gotha and killed 60 people.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Folkestone was an easy target.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24The town had no air raid warning system
0:37:24 > 0:37:26and no anti-aircraft guns.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Men, women and children were killed.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33This savage, unannounced attack
0:37:33 > 0:37:36provoked a furious response among the public.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38In First World War Britain,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40anti-German feeling ran high.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43German immigrants had their shop windows broken,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46people of German ancestry were interned.
0:37:47 > 0:37:53Even German dogs were not safe, as this propaganda postcard shows.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55In Graham Greene's autobiography,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58in which he recalls being a child during the First World War,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03he writes about a Dachshund being stoned in Berkhamsted.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07This is Fritz. You wouldn't want to hurt him, would you?
0:38:11 > 0:38:13During the 1920s and '30s,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16the threat of another war always hung in the air.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21A new invasion of British airspace seemed imminent.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27HG Wells grimly predicted it in his 1936 film The Things To Come.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30We live in interesting,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34exciting and anxious times.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Wells was a heavyweight science-fiction writer
0:38:40 > 0:38:46and he too saw the potential of tapping into our fear of invasion.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Here they are. Listen!
0:38:48 > 0:38:49They're coming already!
0:38:52 > 0:38:57The story foresaw a global war as early as 1940,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01after which these strange-looking planes ruled the skies.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Three years after the film's release,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12HG Wells' prediction was becoming more likely.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Europe was teetering on the edge of a war once more.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19And technological advances meant that
0:39:19 > 0:39:21aerial bombardment would be catastrophic.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25Advocates of strategic bombing argued
0:39:25 > 0:39:28that the bomber would always get through,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32so all over Britain there was a frenzy of air raid shelter building,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35from those that would hold hundreds of people
0:39:35 > 0:39:38to ones like this, which would hold just one.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Below this park, in Ramsgate in Kent,
0:39:49 > 0:39:53I'm going to explore one of the most remarkable underground shelters,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56created to defend ourselves from invasion.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02During the First World War, Ramsgate was bombed in the Zeppelin raids.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03A town planner and the Mayor
0:40:03 > 0:40:07then got together and vowed to protect the people of Ramsgate
0:40:07 > 0:40:10if anything like it would happen again.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Now, this is just one of 16 entrances
0:40:13 > 0:40:17to the most extraordinary system of tunnels
0:40:17 > 0:40:20that exists beneath the town.
0:40:20 > 0:40:21You won't believe what's down here.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Through this Ramsgate rock, for nine months,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31a squad of men tunnelled for three miles.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40This was one of the largest systems of underground shelters ever built.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45It could house up to 35,000 people
0:40:45 > 0:40:49and is a labyrinth of tunnels six-foot wide and seven-foot high.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Nowadays, it's an evocative and haunting place.
0:41:02 > 0:41:08Look at this. "I don't want to die in here".
0:41:13 > 0:41:15I don't want to die in here.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25Look, one of my relatives, the legendary Dave Willis.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28What a boy he was!
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Now, extraordinary places like this have extraordinary stories
0:41:35 > 0:41:37and I'm about to meet Brian Woodland,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39who is going to tell me his.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42- Brian.- Hello, Sam.
0:41:42 > 0:41:43- How you doing?- Nice to meet you.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45What an amazing place this is.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49It certainly is. It's quite an achievement, all these tunnels.
0:41:49 > 0:41:50Yeah, it really is.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52What was it like down here during the war?
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Rather hectic.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58We had many people down here during the air raid.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02We had about five minutes to get to the tunnel entrance, to take cover.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04By then, the bombs were starting to drop.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08You're not telling me this because you've read history books, are you?
0:42:08 > 0:42:09Oh, no, not at all.
0:42:09 > 0:42:10I was actually here during the war.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14How old were you? I was four-years-old in 1940.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16Was there a genuine fear of invasion?
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Did your parents talk about it?
0:42:18 > 0:42:19Well, everybody was very worried.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22My father was in the local fire brigade.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25We were expecting to be evacuated,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28we were standing by, but in the meantime
0:42:28 > 0:42:29the air raid sirens were going off
0:42:29 > 0:42:31and we had to come down the tunnels,
0:42:31 > 0:42:35because expected those bombers coming over the town, to bomb us.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37How many people would come down here?
0:42:37 > 0:42:39We were talking about, at the time before
0:42:39 > 0:42:41the full evacuation took place,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43nearly 2,000 people coming down here.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45- Gosh.- All entrances.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Were people very afraid of what could come at them
0:42:47 > 0:42:48from out of the sky?
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Well, after Dunkirk, we witnessed Dunkirk,
0:42:51 > 0:42:52the troops coming ashore here,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55and everybody expected the Germans to invade.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58- Ah.- This is what we were very worried about.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01It must have been strange feeling that the British
0:43:01 > 0:43:05controlled the land, but the Germans were invading the sky.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Yes, yes.
0:43:07 > 0:43:08We were very worried at the time.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12So many of these German bombers coming over and, of course,
0:43:12 > 0:43:17there was a heavy air raid on Ramsgate on the 24th of August 1940,
0:43:17 > 0:43:23when many people had to come down the tunnel because of the bombing.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26We had 500 bombs dropped in five minutes.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Gosh, that's an awful lot.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32Do you think the younger generation now
0:43:32 > 0:43:36- takes the safety of the skies for granted?- I believe they do now.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40They have no concept of how life was like in 1940.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44They see an aeroplane today and they think it's just an aeroplane,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48but in our days we had to know if it was enemy or friendly.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Yeah. There was no better way of understanding the fear of attack
0:43:51 > 0:43:53than seeing these extraordinary tunnels.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57Yes, that's right. We felt very safe down here, very safe.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07This rare footage shows just how safe people felt down here.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12They made it very homely.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16You could even pop over to your neighbours
0:44:16 > 0:44:18for a cup of tea, or a rasher of bacon.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25The Ramsgate tunnels really are an amazing feat of engineering
0:44:25 > 0:44:28and they provided invaluable shelter
0:44:28 > 0:44:32during one of the most intense periods of the war.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44By August 1940, the Battle of Britain was underway.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55The story of the Battle of Britain is well known now,
0:44:55 > 0:45:00but some of the planes that fought are unsung heroes.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Victory depends, to a very large extent,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08on air supremacy in all theatres of war,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10just as the disasters now overtaking us
0:45:10 > 0:45:13are due very largely to weakness in the air.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17The plane they are constructing here is one of my favourites,
0:45:17 > 0:45:18the Defiant Bomber.
0:45:19 > 0:45:24Any German plane, particularly one above or behind the Defiant,
0:45:24 > 0:45:26would get a nasty little surprise from this turret,
0:45:26 > 0:45:31which could fire up to 100 rounds a second.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33The Defiant was a turret fighter,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35its backward-facing guns were a powerful weapon
0:45:35 > 0:45:39and they were mainly used at night.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42So with plenty of practice and thanks to various devices,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45plus their own skill and daring, they do see in the dark.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48How else could they shoot down 30 planes in a night?
0:45:49 > 0:45:54This particular Defiant shot down 13 German fighters and bombers.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59Despite some impressive kill lists,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03the Defiant was still vulnerable to Germany's most effective terror
0:46:03 > 0:46:06of the skies, the Messerschmitt 109.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10This plane was the backbone of the Luftwaffe.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Some of our more enterprising citizens
0:46:22 > 0:46:25took defensive preparations into their own hands
0:46:25 > 0:46:27for the Battle of Britain.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32Cometh the hour, cometh the man, or in the case of Britain,
0:46:32 > 0:46:34cometh the eccentric.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37Faced with the prospect of German invasion in 1940,
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Major David Michael Gordon Watson fell back on his own resources.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46He scaled these cliffs by the most likely routes,
0:46:46 > 0:46:50leaving booby-traps for unwary German assault troops.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54And he also kept twin machine guns in his back garden, as one does,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57and on the 31st of August, 1940,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01he shot down a Messerschmitt 109 fighter over Dover.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Even the military had to adopt
0:47:08 > 0:47:11some home-spun improvisation of their own.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13The standard British army light machine gun
0:47:13 > 0:47:18was a reliable weapon designed in Czechoslovakia, called the Bren,
0:47:18 > 0:47:19but after Dunkirk,
0:47:19 > 0:47:23there were only 1,000 of them left, so British soldiers,
0:47:23 > 0:47:25whilst waiting for replacements,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29trained using football rattles to simulate machine-gun fire.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36185 enemy aircraft shot down,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39seven of them by anti-aircraft guns.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43It's this plucky spirit that the Ministry of Information
0:47:43 > 0:47:46was trying to promote during the war.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53They co-produced the Noel Coward film In Which We Serve,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56which is about a depleted British army
0:47:56 > 0:48:00heroically regrouping to defend against German invasion.
0:48:00 > 0:48:01It's stirring stuff.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03Here comes the dawn of a new day, Flags,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05and I shouldn't be surprised if it were a fairly comfortable one.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07Yes, sir. It's a very pretty sky, sir.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Somebody sent me a calendar rather like that last Christmas.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Did it have a squadron of Dorniers in the upper right-hand corner?
0:48:12 > 0:48:14- No, sir.- That's where art parts with reality.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18Yes, I'm afraid you're right, sir.
0:48:18 > 0:48:19Abandon ship!
0:48:22 > 0:48:26The situation during the Battle of Britain was very different.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30We tend to think that the Battle of Britain
0:48:30 > 0:48:34was won by the bravery of RAF pilots fighting against impossible odds,
0:48:34 > 0:48:36but in reality, it wasn't.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42For me, the real deciding factor was the English Channel.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Without a navy that could dominate it,
0:48:44 > 0:48:49the vast logistics required to export a land Blitzkrieg to Britain
0:48:49 > 0:48:52was too much for the Germans, no matter how well their air force did.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57And the Luftwaffe's plans were about to go seriously wrong.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Initially, they just bombed RAF bases,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03and it was estimated the British
0:49:03 > 0:49:06could survive just three more weeks,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10but suddenly Germany's air invasion strategy changed.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13It was the result of the actions of one man.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19On the 15th of August, Hauptmann Walter Rubensdorffer
0:49:19 > 0:49:21in a Messerschmitt 110,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24just like this, set off to bomb RAF Kenley,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26a fighter base just to the south of London.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Whilst in the air, he made a crucial mistake.
0:49:31 > 0:49:36At the last minute, he decided to bomb RAF Croydon instead
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and he hit some nearby factories, too.
0:49:39 > 0:49:4363 innocent civilians were killed in this botched attack.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48This was a game changer for Winston Churchill.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51He had to retaliate and fast.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55Rubensdorffer's error had escalated the war.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59RAF Bomber Command had only been dropping
0:49:59 > 0:50:01propaganda leaflets over Germany
0:50:01 > 0:50:04for fear of the retaliation that might ensue,
0:50:04 > 0:50:05but, on the 25th of August,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Churchill ordered them in to bomb Berlin.
0:50:09 > 0:50:10In an insane rage,
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe
0:50:12 > 0:50:15to change targets from RAF airfields to London.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18The bright day is done and we are for the dark.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26This marked the start of the blitz campaign.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28Some historians believe that,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30if Hitler had kept bombing just the airfields,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33he would have won the Battle of Britain,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36destroying the capability of the RAF to respond.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Many of our cities were badly damaged during the blitzkrieg.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53But by bombing cities instead of RAF bases,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56I think Hitler blundered.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58He overcommitted the Luftwaffe
0:50:58 > 0:51:01and underestimated the spirit of British defiance.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09By October 1940, the Battle of Britain was over.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15Eventually the war ended,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19when Britain and her allies turned the tables on Germany
0:51:19 > 0:51:21and invaded mainland Europe.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34In the 1950s, Britain settled down to comfortable suburban domesticity.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41But the fear of invasion was still there,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43and more frightening than ever before.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Our post-war fears focused on the increasing likelihood
0:51:49 > 0:51:52of a devastating nuclear attack,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55not so much invasion as annihilation,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58and one documentary maker was bold enough to try to imagine
0:51:58 > 0:52:00what that might have been like.
0:52:01 > 0:52:059:16am, a single megaton nuclear missile overshoots
0:52:05 > 0:52:10Manston Airfield in Kent and air bursts six miles from this position.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12In 1965,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14Peter Watkins' The War Game
0:52:14 > 0:52:17focused on the after effects of a nuclear bomb
0:52:17 > 0:52:19dropped on a British city.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25At this distance,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28the heat wave is sufficient to cause
0:52:28 > 0:52:30melting of the upturned eyeball,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32third-degree burning of the skin,
0:52:32 > 0:52:33and ignition of furniture.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36SCREAMING
0:52:37 > 0:52:41It was so realistic that the BBC banned it.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Its only fans were the British army,
0:52:45 > 0:52:47who used it as a training film.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54The temperature is rising to 800 centigrade.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59These men are dying, both of heat stroke and of gassing.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07The BBC wanted to protect its viewers
0:53:07 > 0:53:11from seeing the inconceivable terror of nuclear war,
0:53:11 > 0:53:15but everyone knew what this nuclear space invasion would bring,
0:53:15 > 0:53:20an invasion that would leave nothing left to conquer.
0:53:20 > 0:53:21The only way to normalise
0:53:21 > 0:53:25the psychologically unbearable was fantasy.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31In the '50s and '60s, science fiction grew ever more popular.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Films like HG Wells' Time Machine
0:53:44 > 0:53:45showed a world that had developed
0:53:45 > 0:53:49underground to shelter from space invasion.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57The film won an Oscar for these visual effects.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59The lead character is a Victorian-era inventor,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01played by Rod Taylor,
0:54:01 > 0:54:03who transports himself into the future.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09The centuries roll by.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11I put my trust in time
0:54:11 > 0:54:16and waited for the rock to wear down around me.
0:54:18 > 0:54:19I was free again.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24Throughout its history,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28Britain has imagined invasions of aliens and tyrants.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33It has witnessed the arrival of peoples and ideas.
0:54:35 > 0:54:41And in the 1960s, there were more people coming from foreign shores,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44and this time the British government was inviting them in.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Thousands arrived from the Commonwealth.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Some welcomed them, others didn't.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58And the BBC, in a rather clumsy manner,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02was broadcasting programmes to help the new arrivals.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Six, five, four, three...
0:55:05 > 0:55:07I love the countdown.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10It's like we're about to take off.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15So this is TV from the '60s.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20It's like watching something from a different world.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25In 1965, the BBC formed the Immigrant Programmes Unit,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27a well-intentioned gesture
0:55:27 > 0:55:31aimed at introducing British culture to its new citizens.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37Excuse me, does that coach go to Longfield?
0:55:37 > 0:55:40Yes, that coach goes to Longfield,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43but the big coach goes first...
0:55:43 > 0:55:46A government minister even makes an awkward appearance.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48I hope you will find them entertaining.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57If I drop this glass on the floor,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59it will break.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Oh, dear, the glass has broken!
0:56:04 > 0:56:05It has broken.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11In making these educational programmes,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14the BBC recognised that post-war immigration
0:56:14 > 0:56:17was a key moment in our history.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Our national self-image began to change as a result.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27But immigration into Britain didn't begin after World War II,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31it's always been a continuous part of our history.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33It's fascinating that basically
0:56:33 > 0:56:35every generation over the centuries
0:56:35 > 0:56:37has felt that it's the last to be truly British
0:56:37 > 0:56:41because of this existential threat from the invasion of migrants.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45My grandfather came here during Kindertransport from Nazi Germany,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47just before the Second World War,
0:56:47 > 0:56:49and the press at the time were talking about
0:56:49 > 0:56:51the scum of Europe flooding our country.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53Whereas now it's something we're proud of,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56having taken in Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58It's fascinating if you read, for example,
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Elizabethan accounts of foreigners flooding into the country
0:57:03 > 0:57:06and Tottenham being invaded by French people.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08It's such recognisable language from today,
0:57:08 > 0:57:10this sense that we are vulnerable
0:57:10 > 0:57:13to influxes of migrants who will change our culture,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16and that's something that has existed for at least centuries.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20I wouldn't be surprised if that mentality is a millennia-old one,
0:57:20 > 0:57:22and it's actually a psychological thing,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24rather than one grounded in reality.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31The French writer Victor Hugo once wrote,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35"You can resist the invasion of an army,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38"but not the invasion of ideas".
0:57:38 > 0:57:41We have always been a mongrel nation.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44There has never been an island race.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46Those invaders who came here to conquer,
0:57:46 > 0:57:48whether invited or uninvited,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52in campaigns that were either successful or bungled,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56have all helped make Britain the remarkable country that it is today.